CalWORKs Summary Program Services & Utilization Poverty Measures

Poverty Measures


The Resource Model is a dashboard tool that examines the anti-poverty effects of state and federal supports on families participating in CalWORKs. Each resource group uses a different color in the chart and data resources are available on the next slide. Region, CalWORKs status, aided children, and aided adults can be sorted through a drop-down.

Families receiving cash assistance through CalWORKs typically are also eligible to receive benefits from several other anti-poverty programs that make up the state and federal safety net. The Resource Model aggregates these benefits for families of different sizes and examines whether they lift a typical family receiving CalWORKs out of poverty.

Programs Included

This model includes resources that CalWORKs families are likely categorically eligible for, either because participation in CalWORKs provides categorical eligibility (e.g., CalFresh) or because a child in the household is eligible for a near-universal benefit (e.g., expanded Child Tax Credit). This model does not account for benefits that some, but not all, CalWORKs households may receive depending on household circumstances (e.g., benefits related to disability status, elderly family members, or unemployment).

The following resources are included: [1]

  • CalWORKs: we apply typical deductions for the CalWORKs calculation and show how the benefit amount varies by region, exemption status, and family size.
  • CalFresh: we apply typical deductions for the CalFresh calculation and show how the benefit amount varies by family size.
  • State Utility Assistance:
  • The California Alternative Rates for Energy Program (CARE)
  • The California Lifeline Program
  • State Tax Credits:
  • The California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC)
  • The California Young Child Tax Credit (CYCTC)
  • Federal Utility Assistance:
  • The Federal Affordable Connectivity Program
  • The Federal Lifeline Program
  • The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
  • Federal Tax Credits:
  • The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
  • The Child Tax Credit (CTC)
  • Earned Income

Poverty Measures Included

We include two distinct measures to define whether a household is in poverty: The Official Poverty Measure (OPM) and the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). The OPM and SPM are fundamentally different ways of measuring poverty. 

The OPM and SPM differ primarily in how they define: 1) a household, 2) household resources, 3) household costs and 4) poverty thresholds.

Household definition:  The OPM defines a family as individuals related by birth, marriage, or adoption.  In contrast, the broader definition of the SPM “resource unit” includes individuals related by birth, marriage, or adoption, as well as cohabitating partners and foster children.  As a result, the number of people whose poverty status is measured is larger for the SPM than for the OPM.

Household resources:  The OPM only counts pre-tax cash income as a household resource.  By contrast, the SPM considers post-tax cash income (including tax credits) plus any in-kind benefits such as nutritional assistance.

Household costs:  Housing costs are not considered in calculating the OPM but are in the SPM.  In addition, several common household expense items, such as out-of-pocket medical costs, child care expenses, and work-related expenses (including transportation) are subtracted when calculating total family resources in the SPM.

Poverty thresholds:  The OPM adjusts for inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all goods and calculates poverty thresholds by family size and age of family members.  The SPM is revised to reflect varying standards of living (for example, for variation in family/individual expenses/costs, with adjustment for geographic differences in prices across the states/geographic areas).


[1] Dollar amounts presented in the resource model represent benefit values for the given year. For all tax calculations, including income tax and tax credits, we utilize figures from the previous tax year, under the assumption that one would pay income tax and receive appropriate tax credits for the current year. Any amount that is received as a lump sum amount (e.g., tax refunds) is divided by the monthly amount to show the total monthly resources, in line with previous iterations of the CalWORKs Annual Summary.

Combined safety net supports reduce poverty: The goal of the benefit and resource model is to demonstrate the anti-poverty effects of combined state and federal supports available to different types of families participating in CalWORKs. Taken together, these supports can have a powerful anti-poverty impact. A family of three receiving CalWORKs with as little as $600 in monthly earnings, would be lifted above the SPM poverty threshold by the combined resources available through the safety net in 2023. The modal size of a CalWORKs family is three and the median earnings for a family of three is $0, which means that the combined safety net lifts the modal family profile above the SPM.

With the expiration of pandemic supports, very low-income families fall back below the SPM threshold: In 2021, CalWORKs families that received state and federal pandemic assistance were lifted above the (higher) SPM poverty threshold. Once those pandemic supports were lifted in 2022, however, the lowest-income families fell back below the SPM poverty line. Specifically, all families of three making $800 or less fell below the poverty line after pandemic assistance expired.

Access and full receipt are key to realizing the anti-poverty impacts of California’s safety net: The resource model assumes that families successfully access various safety net programs, including state and federal tax credits, utility assistance and CalFresh. This underscores the importance of ongoing work to maximize program cross-enrollment and tax credit take-up.

CalWORKs grants drive anti-poverty impacts for extremely low to no-income families: CalWORKs grants are designed to offer greatest support to those with the greatest need. Although the specific amount varies by year, CalWORKs grants make up approximately 68% of after-tax resources for a family of three with no earned income.

Despite the combined effects of these programs, almost half of CalWORKs assistance units fall below the SPM poverty threshold:  With the expiration of remaining pandemic-era benefits and expansions in 2023, almost all CalWORKs family configurations with no earned income fell back below the SPM poverty level. About 46% of assistance units receiving CalWORKs cash assistance have no earnings. This means that at least half of CalWORKs families still remain below the SPM threshold of poverty regardless of their household composition, exemption status, and geographic region.

Levels of support vary by family characteristics: Earned income, family size, region, and exemption status change the benefit amounts of some of these programs and, as a result, change the total resources available for a family. The current version of the resource model allows users to examine how resources vary based on these characteristics.